The VAR Guy

In separate moves, Canonical and Novell are taking steps to bolster their respective Linux training and certification efforts. Here’s a look at the moves, and the implications for channel partners.

Red Hat leads the Linux-driven server market — mostly because of Red Hat’s ability to work closely with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). But two recent moves by Canonical and Novell, respectively, show promise on the Ubuntu and SUSE Linux ISV fronts. Here are the details.

More than 2,600 partners will converge at this week’s VMware Partner Exchange conference in Las Vegas. Big channel names such as Arrow ECS and Ingram Micro will lend their names to the event. Multiple cloud and virtualization storylines will emerge. But The VAR Guy is zeroing in on one thread: VMware’s strategy for Zimbra, the recently acquired open source email platform.

Forgive The VAR Guy if he sounds a bit confused, but our resident blogger has been scratching his head recently while reading channel coverage involving Oracle and SAP — especially amid a surprise CEO change at SAP. Here’s some perspective.

The VAR Guy is keeping a close eye on Vartopia, some sort of multi-vendor deal registration web site. Vartopia’s founders appear set to disclose their plans sometime today at VMware Partner Exchange, a massive partner conference this week in Las Vegas. Here are the early details.

The VAR Guy is losing sleep, gaining weight, aging fast and always running out of time. But that’s okay… because site traffic continues to surge. Still, our resident blogger wishes he had more hours in the day to write even more blogs. In fact, here are six channel partner blog entries The VAR Guy didn’t have time to write for the week ending February 5, 2010.

7. Open Channel: Pentaho, the open source BI specialist, says its OEM partner program grew 146 percent in the second half of 2009. CEO Richard Daley recently told The VAR Guy he expects Pentaho to double bookings in 2010.

6. What Conflict?: When McAfee announced Security Quickstart Services for small and midsize customers, the company was smart to quote a channel partner in the press release. However, some observers think Quickstart is primarily a direct sales push into the SMB market. The Quickstart website sure looks like a direct sales pitch. The VAR Guy still needs to give McAfee equal time on the matter.

5. Why So Quiet?: The VAR Guy noted earlier this week that Unison Communications — a fledgling unified communications company — has been pretty darn quiet in recent months. One potential reason: Former CTO Igor Balk apparently moved on to a startup called PMP HQ.

4. The Bad and the Good: Investors weren’t impressed with NetSuite’s latest SaaS revenues. Perhaps SaaS and cloud aren’t living up to the hype? But NetSuite is quick to point to continued wins involving SAP customer defections.

3. Join the Party: XO Communications is now a supplier member to 1nService, an international community of advanced technology integrators. Also of note: An emerging relationship between 1nService and NeuronGlobal. The VAR Guy will explain why next week.

2. Friday’s Fatal Distraction: Scroll down to the bottom-right of this web page. No quarters required. A new fatal distraction will debut each Friday. Enjoy.

1. Check the Headline: If you know The VAR Guy, you know he doesn’t play by the rules. There is no #1 on this list, because it’s a top six list.

Is Canonical serious about pushing Ubuntu into businesses? The company’s latest corporate move provides a clear answer. Indeed, Canonical has hired Matt Asay (pictured) — one of the open source industry’s best-known names — as its new chief operating officer. The move comes amid a CEO shift and several major product initiatives at Canonical. Here are some perspectives.

Just in time for 3DTV (no joke, Norton), Microsoft is set to launch a Digital Home competency for channel partners in May 2010, according to documentation on the company’s Web site. The Digital Home channel initiative is part of a broader Microsoft Partner Network competency overhaul. Here are the details.

Microsoft is looking pretty healthy for a ‘dead’ company. Sure, former Microsoft VP Dick Brass essentially buried the company in a New York Times Op-Ed piece today. But remember: Skeptics buried IBM in 1993 and Apple in 1996. Critics thought the HP-Compaq deal was forever doomed. And lots of folks thought Larry Ellison had lost his mind when Oracle started buying up big enterprise software companies. So, what’s the reality at Microsoft?

DotNetNuke, which makes an open source content management system, seems to be gaining traction with channel partners. The company, which supports Microsoft .NET environments, has gone from zero to about 50 VARs and hosting providers in the past year, according to The VAR Guy’s ongoing Open Source 50 survey. Here are the details.

Amid fierce competition with Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard for partner attention, Juniper has shifted the date of its J-Partner Summit away from rival event schedules to a more reasonable May 24-26, 2010. Smart move. Here’s why.

Grab a good seat while you can. The online office suite market is about to get a bit more crowded. Oracle, it appears, is working on Oracle Cloud Office — which will potentially compete with Google Apps, Microsoft Office Web, Zoho and a range of other SaaS productivity applications. Here’s some perspective.

Don’t press the panic button. SaaS and cloud market opportunities remain real. But even the big players continue to suffer from scattered outages. The latest example involves Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), a SaaS platform that has had some outages in recent days. It raises the question again: Will any IT company emerge as the Volvo — reliable, trustworthy, safe — of the SaaS market?

Unison Communications made headlines in 2008 for launching a free, advertising-based unified communications system. The trade press cheered. Open source fans applauded because Unison supported Ubuntu Linux. But whatever happened to Unison? The VAR Guy thinks the company is preparing an encore. Here’s the speculation.

Canonical and the Ubuntu community are busy polishing Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), a major upgrade set to debut in April 2010. But before the new Linux distribution arrives, the Ubuntu community will host an Ubuntu Global Jam from March 26 to March 28. The big question: Will customers and partners also join in the Jam? Should they? Here are some thoughts.

Parallels has launched a Cloud Services Certification Program to “help its Partners become more profitable.” The news arrives roughly two weeks before the Parallels Summit 2010 kicks off in Miami, Fla. What should partners expect in Miami? Here are some clues — involving some SaaS upstarts and some technology industry giants.

Open Tech, an open source partner program organized by Tech Data, has gained a new member. Specifically, KnowledgeTree, an enterprise content management company, has joined Open Tech. The VAR Guy welcomes the news but our resident blogger wonders: Are VARs starting to embrace Open Tech and the rival Open Source Channel Alliance? Here are some clues.

When Microsoft delivered record quarterly results last week, at least some of the credit belonged to Jane Boulware, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Client business. Boulware (pictured) previously held top marketing posts for MSN and Kimberly-Clark Corp., the consumer goods giant. Now, she drives Windows marketing. So where is Boulware taking Windows marketing next? She offers some perspectives in this FastChat video.

Vyatta, the open source networking company, has grown is channel partner network to more than 325 companies — up from about 180 companies in 2008. But are Vyatta’s partners generating sales? Apparently yes. Here are the details.

Pentaho, the open source business intelligence specialist, expects its bookings to grow roughly 100 percent in 2010, according to CEO Richard Daley (pictured). No surprise, channel partners will drive a lot of Pentaho’s growth, Daley asserts. Here’s a look at Pentaho’s business strategy, and the implications for solutions providers.

Microsoft has its head in the clouds again. This time, the news involves a small business version of BPOS — Business Productivity Online Suite. The original BPOS lineup includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and other hosted applications. Now comes word that Microsoft is planning some sort of BPOS Lite offering for small businesses. The question: Will VARs be involved in the effort? The early buzz says “Yes.”

The VAR Guy was distracted by the usual stuff this week. Deadlines. Meetings. Vendor calls. And classic arcade games. Here are six blog entries The VAR Guy didn’t have a chance to write for the week ending Jan. 29, 2010.

Each day, the drumbeat for Ubuntu Server Edition is getting slightly louder. In recent weeks, a growing list of ISVs (independent software vendors) has vowed to support Canonical’s Linux server operating system. The latest example involves Mailspect launching antispam and email archiving solutions for Ubuntu Server.